Butterflies prefer flat, single, daisy-like flowers. When you place daisies where they will get full sun, butterflies will have the perfect place to sit in the sunlight until their muscles are warm enough to fly in the morning. Stone pathways are another useful and attractive way to provide them with a spot to sit and bask in the sun.

Another key to attracting butterflies is to provide plants on which they will lay their eggs.  Since many of these plants are considered weeds, I have found acceptable surrogates in the same plant family that not only feed the caterpillars, but also look good in my gardens.

Some examples are:

• Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tubersosa)--monarch
• Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis)--painted lady
• Bronze Fennel--swallowtail
• Hops (Humulus lupulus)--common hairstreak, red admiral
• Lupine--Eastern tailed blue
• Aster--Pearl crescent

One butterfly larvae is considered by some to be a garden pest. The fat swallowtail caterpillar can be found on parsley, dill, fennel and carrots in the vegetable garden, but rarely will they eat enough to warrant intervention. If you are lucky enough to get a good crop of caterpillars this year plant some extras just for them next year. Simply move the ones that are on your food plants over to the plants you don't mind them chomping on.

Flowering herbs are a great favorite of both butterflies and hummingbirds. Some good ones are sage, thyme, hyssop, catnip, borage, and lavender. Try growing lemon catnip, which has a much nicer citrus scent, then regular catnip. Two herbs that aren't commonly grown, but are very good nectar plants, are pineapple sage and anise hyssop (agastache).

Hummingbirds like flowers that are shaped like a trumpet--especially if they are bright red. They are irresistibly drawn to anything that color and I've seen them hover near the red streamers of a wind sock and even the red glass in my stained glass window.

Which makes bee balm the perfect hummingbird flower. When July comes and the fragrant flowers start to bloom, the hummingbirds never leave the immediate vicinity and are always somewhere close buzzing around. Monarda does have a tendency to get mildew so be sure and buy 'Jacob Kline' or 'Colrain Red,' which are both much more resistant then the older strains such as 'Cambridge Scarlet'.

The list below has more flowers that will attract both butterflies and hummingbirds, but be forewarned that even if you do everything right...you still may not have any luck attracting butterflies. Sometimes there are just things that are beyond your control such as a neighbor spraying everything in sight with pesticides or just a cool summer.  But don't let that discourage you, after all, what could be more beautiful then a garden full of butterflies and hummingbirds? It's definitely worth the extra effort.

Click here for my long list of plants that attract both butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard and gardens.